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Memories of a Dying Soldier - Chapter Six
Posted By: Spartan Elessar<spartan_elessar@yahoo.com>
Date: 19 April 2006, 2:41 pm
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Chapter 6:
Knock Knock
"Who's there?"
July 17, 2552
Grid twenty five by sixteen – Two miles away from Cote D' Azur
Alpha Base
Planet Sigma Octanus IV
It has been seventeen years since Planet Jericho VII was glassed by the Covenants, ever since Logan Kelso was deeply troubled and was draining out of hope. His best friend, Jen Fell was transferred to another planet (Millions of light-year away) under one of ONI's "Classified" missions – Damn them! – He thought. It has been six years since he has last seen Jen.
Under these hard seventeen years, the only good thing that happened to him was his promotion. Now he was called as Sergeant Logan Kelso. A big achievement, he smirked. He has seen too many deaths, too many heart breaks and too many sacrifices. But yet to see those Covenants fall.
Jericho VII was his first experience to see a planet been glassed, unfortunately it was not his last one to witness either. Too many colonies have fallen; it was a total extermination of Human kind. The very thought unnerved him. Both the outer colonies and the inner ones fell into the Covenant's hand with ease. If they don't do something, then there will be nothing left to do at the end.
Pushing these painful thoughts away, Logan got up from his bed. He checked the clock and was surprised by the time, he has hardly slept. He pushed his bed covers off and walked to his mirror. It was small, but it clearly reflected his face. He has young yet old. The ongoing battles have aged him even though he was just thirty eight.
He still wonders how he survived all these years, he was neither the best leader nor the best soldier, but somehow he and his team survived and finished their objectives successfully. After all, there is someone up there watching me, he thought. He dressed himself and walked out of his tent. His base was near the huge city called as Cote D' Azur. Their only objective was to protect those hundreds of civilians in that city.
"Good morning sir," a young marine, called as Kelly, stepped forward.
His name – Kelly, always brought back memories, pleasant memories about the Spartans. He has never forgotten it; somehow those events were carved inside his mind.
"Good morning," he replied back
Five marines were under his command and those five were the best, according to him. They have proved themselves note-worthy continuously after every single battle. They don't even hesitate to follow his command even it means certain death.
"Status," he asked
"Sir, we are getting confirmed reports from UNSC Destroyer Iroquois that they are engaging Covenant fleets (two frigates, one destroyer, one carrier). This can't be a good news sir," a marine called as Thomas replied. He was the radio guy, as they called him.
"Of course it's not a good news marine," replied Logan. More trouble he thought. "So how many UNSC battle ships are currently protecting this planet?"
Thomas fell silent and his head slowly sank, "Only one sir. Just the UNSC Destroyer Iroquois - commanded by Captain Keyes."
"What!"
Disbelief ran across Logan's face accompanied by anger. "Sigma Octanus four has more than one million humans, but all they could send is just one Battle ship? That ship will be vaporized even before it can engage the enemy," said Logan, whose anger was increasing by every second. Damn the ONI, he thought once again. "Now what, they expect us to fight the entire covenant by ourselves or just stand here and watch being burned alive as these bastards stand in the orbit and glass this planet?" None of the marines had an answer; they stood there and watched him.
Lose your temper, and then you will lose your fight – thought Logan, so he slowly rubbed his forehead and gave a heavy sigh. Nothing is going to happen if he just whines about it, so he ordered to give a full alert to the other bases and the city.
Two hours later…
July 17, 2552
Grid twenty five by sixteen – Two miles away from Cote D' Azur
Alpha Base
Planet Sigma Octanus IV
"Are you sure?" Logan asked with a tone of astonishment
"Yes sir, it's confirmed," reported Thomas with a big smile and the rest of the marines gave a big "HOO-RAH!"
"Unbelievable," Logan exclaimed. "One UNSC ship took down three Covenant battle ships?"
"Yes sir," replied back Thomas who was still grinning
"I have never heard such a thing in my entire life. Outnumbered and outgunned, Iroquois looped around the Covenant bastards and destroyed them," he still couldn't believe it. It was too amazing to be true. "That guy, Captain Keyes must be more than a genius. Well then it's fair to call it as "Keyes loop" - a technique all the Captains should learn.That guy has some real guts," finished Logan with a broad smile
"You are right sarge," replied Kelly
BEEP
A continuous beeping sound covered their base, startling the marines.
"Shit!" exclaimed Thomas
"What is it?" asked Logan, whose smile was vanishing
The radio opened and a male voice came through it, "ALERT! COVENANT DROP SHIPS ARE APPROACHING THE PLANET. I REPEAT, NUMEROUS COVENANT DROPSHIPS ARE REACHING THE PLANET'S SURFACE. ALL BASES PREPARE TO REPEL THEM…"
"There is no such thing as complete success. Marines load up, we got company," ordered Sergeant Logan and his marines obeyed.
"Thomas, Kelly load up the Warthogs. Jameson and Ryan take all the jackhammers we have. Sunil, you are in charge for the med kit and explosives. Come on move out, on the double," hurried Logan
"Yes sir," everyone replied in unison and hurried out.
Within five minutes, two UNSC warthogs were loaded with jackhammers, assault rifles, frag grenades, med kits and high powered anti-tank mines.
Logan and Sunil took the wheels, where as others took the passenger seats and the mounted chain guns -which was located behind the Warthog.
"Listen up marines, we are gonna enter the city and save as many people as we can, move out," he called and floored his Warthog. The heavy wheels spun around the dusty ground and moved out sounding like a thunder. "Stick close."
The two Warthogs entered the huge city within few minutes, accompanied by many other UNSC forces. Pelicans dropped marines all over the main land and went back to fetch some more. Thousands of people lived in Cote D' Azur itself, so the UNSC forces formed a strong barrier around it.
There was a huge rumble above their heads. It sounded like a thunder and lighting, accompanied by purple lights. Everyone's gaze shifted up as fear and panic crept. Hundreds of 'U' shaped Covenant purple drop ships entered the planet's atmosphere and came down at a threatening speed.
Those Covenant drop ships were as big as a Pelican and it can carry up to ten Covenant warriors no matter what cast they are. The plasma turret, that was attached to its tail, shot high powered purple colored plasma at its target, burning a path before it.
Longswords, Pelican' trusted friends, engaged the enemy on air. They released a hell on those drop ships. The sky turned pale red as huge explosions occurred on the sky. Pelicans, Longswords and Covenant drop ships fell down to the ground in a huge bowl of fire as they exchanged fire fight. Soon the 'U' shaped ships were protected by their fighters', called asseraph class, who entered the planet and engaged the Longswords. Using this new distraction, numerous Covenant drop ships made land fall and released their warriors.
Elites, Grunts, Jackals and Hunters exited out and engaged one on one with the UNSC marines. All hell broke lose.
"Take him down, NOW!" ordered Logan
Jameson and Ryan shot their Jackhammers in unison, sending two high powered rockets toward a drop ship. The rockets impacted inside the drop ship, as it opened its doors to releases the Elites. The huge explosion shook the ship from head to foot; after few seconds the hovering craft fell down useless killing ten Elites with it.
"Hades, I have some guests for you," whispered Logan and opened up his assault rifle along with his team.
The fight was endless, huge amount of Covenants made landfall on this particular area. Soon the marines were outnumbered by ten to one. Every Pelicans, Warthogs, Scorpions (UNSC tanks) and Marines were shot down. Humans were losing fast. The reinforcement was useless as they were shot down on mid air, so the remaining soldiers started to fall back, way back. Why are they destroying this particular area or conquering it?
"Sir your orders?" asked Sunil from his hiding place. The whole city was a mess, structures were collapsed and streets were ruined by those high powered plasmas. The road was littered with rocks, bodies and blood.
Logan thought for a second. Is it right to pull back? Was that a cowardly act? Is it must to live another day to fight or stand your ground till your death? Too many questions.
"Let's pull back," he ordered, so he and his team sneaked out of the city to their base in their warthogs. But another shocker was waiting for them, there was no base left to go. Everything was gone period.
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